Maidan casualties

Maidan casualties
Altogether, 108 civilian protesters and 13 police officers were killed in Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity (or the 'Maidan Revolution'), which was the culmination of the Euromaidan protest movement. The deaths occurred in January and February 2014; most of them on 20 February, when police snipers fired on anti-government activists in Kyiv. The slain activists are known in Ukraine as the Heavenly Hundred or Heavenly Company (Nebesna sotnya). By June 2016, 55 people had been charged in relation to the deaths of protesters, including 29 former members of the Berkut special police force, ten titushky or loyalists of the former government, and ten former government officials.
On 21 February, the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada) passed a law to provide assistance to the families of the protesters who were killed. On 21 November 2014 a decree by the new Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko posthumously awarded the title "Hero of Ukraine" to the slain protesters. Three non-Ukrainian citizens killed in the revolution were each posthumously awarded the title "Knight of the Order of the Heaven's Hundred Heroes". Since 2015, the deaths have been commemorated each year in Ukraine on 20 February, which is "the Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes".
History
The first deaths occurred on Unity Day, 22 January, during riots on Hrushevskoho Street in Kyiv, where three activists: Serhiy Nigoyan, Mykhailo Zhyznevskyi and were shot dead. On the same day, the dead body of activist was found on the city outskirts; he had been kidnapped a day before with Ihor Lutsenko, who was released. These were the first victims to die in demonstrations in Ukraine since it gained national independence in 1991. The deaths caused widespread protests. On 23 January, then Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in a BBC interview said that police had not been issued firearms, and said no police officers were located on the rooftops around the protest area. He stated that the shooting of protesters was a provocation by extremist forces aimed at escalating violence. Party of Regions MP Arsen Klinchayev stated during a memorial service in Luhansk for those killed on 22 January by police, "These people were against the government. Nobody has the right to use physical force against police officers. And then they have their sticks, then stones, then something else. The police have the right to defend their lives. So I think it's right that these four people were killed. Moreover, I believe that you need to be stricter."
Five more deaths in connection with Euromaidan occurred between 25 January and 13 February.
The second active phase started February 18. After a brief truce on 19 February, the clashes renewed 20 February. According to the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, special forces (Berkut) and Interior Troops snipers shot at people on Maidan and/or snipers located in nearby buildings, with the special forces firing AK-47 assault rifles. 20 February was the bloodiest day of the clashes, with at least 21 protesters killed. The final death toll from these clashes in late February was 103 protesters and 13 police. According to Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine in February, 67 people were killed in Kyiv's city centre, 184 sustained gunshot wounds and over 750 suffered bodily injury. On 20 February, the (then) opposition parties (Batkivshchyna, UDAR and Svoboda) stated "To hold talks with the regime, the policies of which led to the deaths of many people, is an extremely unpleasant thing but we must do everything possible and even the impossible to prevent further bloodshed".
At least 17 people died from previously received wounds and injuries thereafter.
On 21 February, Maidan participants wished farewell to the perished protesters who they named the Heavenly Hundred. During the event, a mourning Lemko song "A duck floats on the Tysa..." was heard.
On 24 February, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) decided to propose that the next Ukrainian president award the title Hero of Ukraine to protesters killed in the clashes.
Identity of snipers
Following the revolution, the new government's health minister, Oleh Musiy—a doctor who helped oversee medical treatment for casualties during the protests—told the Associated Press that the similarity of bullet wounds suffered by protesters and police suggests the shooters were trying to stoke tensions on both sides and spark greater violence, with the goal of justifying a Russian invasion. "I think it wasn't just a part of the old regime that (plotted the provocation), but it was also the work of Russian special forces who served and maintained the ideology of the (old) regime," he said, citing forensic evidence. Hennadiy Moskal, former deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine and Ministry of Internal Affairs, suggested that snipers from the Security Service and Militsiya were responsible, who acted on contingency plans dating back to Soviet times: "Snipers received orders to shoot not only protesters, but also police forces. This was all done to escalate the conflict, to justify the police operation to clear Maidan".
Russian state media reported a leaked telephone call in which Estonia's foreign minister, Urmas Paet, allegedly accused the opposition of shooting both police and protesters. Paet acknowledged the phone call was authentic, but denied blaming the opposition and said he was merely relaying rumors he had heard from a doctor. A spokesperson for the US state department said the leak was "Russian tradecraft".
The doctor, Olga Bogomolets, said she had not told Paet that policemen and protesters had been killed in the same way, that she did not blame the opposition for the killings, and said the government told her an investigation had begun.
On 12 March 2014, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the conflict was provoked by a 'non-Ukrainian' third party, and that an investigation was ongoing.
On 31 March 2014, The Daily Beast published photos and videos which appear to show that the snipers were members of the Ukrainian Security Service's "Alfa" group, who had been trained in Russia.
On 2 April 2014, law enforcement authorities announced they had detained nine suspects in the shootings, among them the leader of the sniper squad. All were officers of the Kyiv City Berkut unit, and verified the Alfa Group's involvement in the shootings. Officials also said they plan further arrests, but have been hindered because the Yanukovych regime destroyed documents and evidence. The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed that Yanukovych gave the order to fire on protesters on 20 February. Ukraine's interior minister, chief prosecutor and top security chief said more than 30 Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) agents were involved in the crackdown on protesters and flew large quantities of explosives into an airport near Kyiv. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the interim head of Ukraine's Security Service, said the FSB agents were based at a compound in Kyiv throughout the Maidan protests, were provided with "state telecommunications" and were in regular contact with Yanukovych's security officials. He said that Yanukovych's SBU chief Oleksandr Yakymenko, who had fled the country, held several briefings with the agents. Russia's FSB rejected these "groundless accusations".
In 2015, BBC published a story based on an interview with an unnamed man, who said he fired at riot police from the Kyiv Conservatory (music academy) on the morning of 20 January. The sniper said he was recruited by "a retired military officer". These morning shots are said to have provoked return fire from police snipers that resulted in many deaths. One Maidan leader, Andriy Shevchenko, said police commanders called him to say they were being shot from areas controlled by protesters. Another Maidan leader, Andriy Parubiy, said his team searched the Conservatory but found no snipers. He confirmed that many victims on both sides were shot by snipers, but they were shooting from other, taller buildings surrounding the Conservatory and was convinced they were snipers controlled by Russia.
In 2016, Maidan protester Ivan Bubenchik admitted having fired on the security forces with the intention of killing them from a location near the Conservatory on 20 February 2014.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in 2020 that "evidence and documents have been lost, while the scene of the crime has been tampered with and 'cleaned up'". He could not say when those who gave the orders would be found, but gave assurances that the matter is being "dealt with faster than several years ago".
Legal hearings and investigation
Investigation on Euromaidan casualties began on December 2013 following the initial dispersal of student gatherings on the night of 30 November. On 13 December 2013 President Viktor Yanukovych announced that three high-ranking officials would be brought to justice. The General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine questioned the chairman of the Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov on 13 December and Security Council secretary Andriy Klyuev on 16 December. The investigation was announced during the so-called "round table" negotiations initiated by former President Leonid Kravchuk. On 14 December, Popov and another official were temporarily relieved of their duties until conclusion of the investigation.
On 17 December the Prosecutor General questioned activist Ruslana Lyzhychko and announced that aside from Popov and three other individuals were under pretrial investigation. On request of the parliamentary opposition, Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka read in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) a report on investigation about dispersal of protesters on 30 November. During the report the Prosecutor General acknowledged that members of the public order militsiya "Berkut" "exceeded the use of force" after being provoked by protesters. Pshonka also noted that the investigation had not yet determined who exactly ordered use of force. Following the PG's report, the parliamentary opposition registered a statement on creation of provisional investigation committee in regards to actions of law enforcement agencies towards peaceful protests in Kyiv.
Earlier, a separate investigation was started by the Security Service of Ukraine on 8 December 2013 about actions aimed at seizing state power in Ukraine. In the context of the 1 December 2013 Euromaidan riots, the Prosecutor General informed that calls for the overthrow of the government involved members of radical groups. During the events at Bankova, the militsiya detained 9 people and after a few days the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that it considered organization Bratstvo (see Dmytro Korchynsky) to be involved in instigation of disorders, while none of those detained were members of that organization.
Ukrainian media reported the results of forensic examinations, according to which, the Berkut was implicated in the murders of Maidan protesters after forensic investigations found matches between the bullets extracted from the bodies of victims and the weapons of the Berkut. The experts explained why no match between the bullets and the weapons, which had been assigned to the Berkut special force, had been found as a result of the examination of the bullets held in January 2015, whereas the examination carried out in December of the same year had showed such a match.
Identified deaths
Unnamed dead activists
Unidentified activists were reported killed.
During the Hrushevskoho Street riots, a 22‑year-old man died falling from the colonnade near the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium during a beating by police; the cause of death was multiple injuries, particularly spinal fracture.
Two unnamed shooting victims were announced on the evening of 22 February. Their bodies disappeared from the street after the action of Berkut in the early morning 22 January. Roman Senyk was later identified as shot and killed on this date.
On 26 January, the body of a man was found in Obolon district, with his hands bound.
On 29 January, two male activists were shot on Hrushevskoho Street and brought to a Kyiv hospital. One died from gunshot wounds the following day. A UDAR MP accused police of shooting the two as a provocation.
On 15 February, the body of a missing activist was found outside of Kyiv.
On 18–19 February, 16 protesters were killed in clashes, of whom 7 have been named.
On 19 February at 9pm a young man was killed in Khmelnytsky outside the SBU building. 5Kanal reported both a 23‑year-old and a 16‑year-old were shot and killed.
On 20 February, at least 34 protesters were shot dead as of 1pm, with reporters verifying the bodies (15 at Kozatsky Hotel, 12 at Ukraine Hotel, 7 at the central post office). Kyiv Post journalists reported an additional eight bodies on Khreshchatyk Street early afternoon, separate from the previous count. Olha Bohomolets, one of the attending physicians to 12 fatal gunshot victims at Ukraine Hotel, said that the victims were shot with precision rifles and powerful ammunition that broke their bones.
Other deaths
On 18 February militants from the Social-National Assembly and the Patriots of Ukraine seized and burned down the central office of the ruling Party of Regions. A 57-year-old IT engineer Vladimir Konstantinovich Zakharov died in the fire. According to Party of Regions' statement, Zakharov proposed to the attackers to provide an exit route for the women office workers and was mortally struck in the head with a bat. According to the Ukrainian news site Censor.net, Zakharov died of carbon monoxide poisoning while taking money from the office safe. On 10 April 2020 Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations handed a murder suspicion notice to a former People's Deputy of Ukraine Tetiana Chornovol. Chornovol is accused of "controlling actions of a group of people and directly participating in the arson" of the Party of Regions office building.
Police officers' deaths
As of 2 March, The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported 18 officer fatalities related to the conflict. Two deaths that occurred during the crisis were considered by The Interior Ministry's as having no relation to Euromaidan or civil unrest. In addition, according to the Minister of Internal Affairs, another police officer, 30-year-old captain of the Internal Troops of Ukraine Dmytro Donets, died from a heart attack. On 18 February, six officers were killed in action against protest camps in Kyiv.
Legacy
Ukrainian sources refer to the activists who died during Euromaidan as "The Heavenly Hundred". In April 2014, the Kyiv City State Administration and Culture Ministry of Ukraine stated that they expected to open a memorial complex "to the heroes of Heavenly Hundred" in February 2015, on the occasion of the anniversary of the death activists. On 1 July 2014, the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament of Ukraine) established the Medal "Order of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes". On 25 August 2014, President Petro Poroshenko claimed he had called the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election in order to purify parliament of MPs who had supported "the [January] Dictatorship laws that took the lives of the Heavenly hundred".
Kyiv City Council renamed a part of Instytutska Street into Heavenly Hundred Heroes Avenue on 20 November 2014.
President Poroshenko decreed on 11 February 2015 that 20 February will annually be commemorated as "Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes". His decree established [an action plan to accomplish] a museum in Kyiv dedicated to Euromaidan. On 20 February, it is compulsory for Ukrainian TV channels to display a flaming candle or a similar stylized image, and, at 12:00, a minute of silence must be observed.
Monuments
On 23 February in Poltava, a statue of Lenin taken down two days previously had its pedestal converted into a "monument to the Maidan Heroes".
On 13 April 2014 in Buda, Chyhyryn Raion (the historical Cold Ravine), a monument to "the Heavenly Hundred" was installed.
On 6 May 2014 in Dubno, a commemorative landmark to "the Heavenly Hundred" was unveiled.
On 21 September 2015 outside of Chicago in Bloomingdale, Illinois, a monument commemorating the people perished during the Euromaidan was erected.
See also
Casualties during the 2013–2014 Ukraine crisis
Euromaidan
Revolution of Dignity
References
External links
Website dedicated to the killed protesters
Website dedicated to the killed protesters, related news, investigations and litigations (in Ukrainian)
"Site-Requiem dedicated to those who died in the turmolous days of the Eurorevolution" (in Ukrainian and Russian)
Euromaidan
Euromaidan
Ukraine-related lists